Over 275 guests celebrated the achievements of five local high school scholars, who overcame adversities ranging from homelessness and bullying to poverty and physical and verbal abuse, at the Children’s Defense Fund New York's annual Beat the Odds Gala at The Pierre in New York City. The event, hosted by television personality Star Jones, also honored renowned stage and screen actors LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson, and business leader Roger W. Ferguson, Jr., President & CEO of TIAA-CREF, for their longstanding commitment to CDF’s Leave No Child Behind mission.